Maximum streetcar price is set, with rails now bound for Kansas City

Kansas City public works officials have negotiated a maximum streetcar construction price of $61.7 million, and 800 tons of rail will be trucked to Kansas City over the next two weeks. City officials said the construction price was negotiated down from earlier estimates and is within the established total project budget of about $102 million.

Kansas City public works officials have negotiated a final maximum streetcar construction price, and 800 tons of rail will be trucked from Pennsylvania to Kansas City over the next two weeks.

The guaranteed maximum construction price for the downtown streetcar project will be $61.7 million, which was negotiated down from a higher estimate in January. It is within the total project budget of about $102 million, Public Works Director Sherri McIntyre told the City Council on Thursday.

“Now we have a set price,” she said. “We know what it will cost, and it is in the budget.”

The $102 million price includes design, four streetcar vehicles, a vehicle maintenance facility and other related costs.

The City Council approved a resolution Thursday endorsing the maximum construction price.

The council also approved a separate ordinance to spend $23.7 million in water and sewer bond funds to replace ancient, break-prone water mains and rehabilitate outdated sewers along the streetcar route. Officials said the work would have to be done anyway within a few years and it made sense to do it while the streets are torn up for streetcar construction.

The streetcar construction is being managed by a joint venture of St. Joseph-based Herzog Contracting Corp. and California-based Stacy and Witbeck Inc. Ralph Davis, Kansas City’s engineering service manager, said the streetcar construction and water and sewer work will involve 63 subcontractors, including 46 from the Kansas City area.

The actual rail, which is being produced at a Pennsylvania steel mill, will soon be on its way to Kansas City. The first truckload is due to depart Monday and is expected to arrive in Kansas City on Wednesday. Over a period of about 10 days, Kansas City expects to take delivery of about 50 truckloads, with 800 tons of rail. Most of it will be stored in a parking lot at 19th and Walnut streets.